Friday, 1 April 2011

Hope not to see more than these two things

It was early 2003 when I first saw these heavy things that cover the torso and the head to protect them from bullets and shrapnel.Since then, the flak jackets and helmets have become a vital part of our life; either we wear them from time to time or see people wear them.

But since late 2007 when security situation started to improve in most of the areas nationwide, the flak jackets and helmets have been kept in the lockers of many of those who used to wear them during Iraq's dark years such as the media organizations.

Now it's the time to bring them out of these lockers and use them, but not in Iraq. This time will be used in Iraq's neighbors who have the opportunity now, unfortunately, to see and experience them and may be they would be part of their life as the unrest sounds to continue.

Some of those who depended on the flak jackets and helmets, including my employer, are now sending them to colleagues in Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and Libya. Some are being sent by DHL despite their heavy weights that could be translated into hundreds of dollars for each because they are sorely needed very quickly.

Let's hope that these countries will see only the flak jackets and helmets for a short period of time and not armored vehicles with mercenaries, concert blast walls and razor wires.

“We called it our Berlin Wall,” said Saad Khalef, 41, told The NYT on March 6 story as he surveyed the newly uncovered ground where the walls had stood, as crushed and pale as the skin beneath a bandage. “Now we can breathe easy. Yesterday, I felt a breeze coming through, I swear to God.”The NYT's Anthony Shadid in a piece on Jan. 6, 2011 two days after Muqtada Al-Sadr's return from nearly four-year self-imposed exile in Iraq: In 2004, an American spokesman in Baghdad called Mr. Sadr “a two-bit thug.” On Wednesday, the State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, called him “the leader of an Iraqi political party that won a number of seats in the March 2010 election.”